"We broke a bottom end of the engine yesterday, and broke two today," U-3 owner Ed Cooper told Brad Luce on KPTK radio after the boat went dead in Heat 1A at Seafair. "It's been a run of bad luck. I hate saying that, but I don't know what else to call it," he said.

Cooper said that in qualifying the boat was on its way to its fastest lap ever in Seattle when they lost the engine on Friday.

Probably the best race of the day came down to a two-boat dual between Jean Theoret in the U-37 and David Bryant in the U-10.

Theoret started in lane 1, with Bryant just to his outside. Through the first two laps, Bryant stayed right with the Miss Beacon Plumbing despite the shorter course that the U-37 had. Theoret pulled away at the end of the front straightway at the beginning of lap number three, and was able to put Bryant on his hip and push him to the outside just enough to gain nearly a full-roostertail advantage out of the turn, and use that to gain a heat victory in 1C.

For the first lap, there was also a race for third and fourth, while Jimmy Shane and David Williams went deck-to-deck before Shane was able to pull away and easily take third place.

Not really much of a surprise in the winner of this heat, as the U-1 Ellstrom presents Amos W. Hoss ran away from the rest of the fleet.

But the start was great. Greg Hopp had lane 1 with the U-100 MirageBoats.com, Dave Villwock in lane 2 and Ken Muscatel in lane 3 driving the Miss Procraft Windows. Brian Perkins was a little bit back in the U-50 Miss Albert Lee presents Spirit of the Navy.

Hopp led the fleet through the first turn on lap one with Muscatel in second place. Villwock, though, didn't take long to bolt into first place, jumping out of the tunnel at the exit pin. After that the best racing came as Perkins picked off Muscatel to move into third place, then pursued Hopp for two laps. At the finish, Hopp held off Perkins by a couple of boat lengths to take second.

Great first lap to this heat, but it quickly turned into a parade with Steve David as the grand marshall.

Jeff Bernard led the fleet across the start finish line in lane two and tried to hold David to the buoys, but the Oberto had too much speed in the back chute, and pulled away just before reaching the north turn.

Once David got his commanding lead, Bernard settled back in to second place to save equipment, as did J. Michael Kelly in the U-13.

We lost the U-3 Hoss Mortgage Investors Too in the north turn just at the end of the first lap. Might be the end of their weekend as the boat flashed a yellow light and went dead in the water. It was the last engine that was available to the team.

Well...as soon as we posted that we were at five to the five, the ABRA decides to go on a five minute hold for the start of Heat 1A, due to a delay of a crane operator getting to the U-3 and U-5 in time to get both boats in the water.

We're currently holding to go to the official five-to-the five in about one more minute.

Nearly everyone in the pits is taking a good lunch break today, with a few exceptions. Here's an update at the midway-point of Saturday's action.

U-1 - The Ellstrom presents Amos W. Hoss boat appears to be ready for this afternoon's heats. There's a decent crowd of fans around the Ellstrom pits checking out the U-1 merchandise that's offered for sale.

U-3 - The last motor available to the team is now in the boat. Crew member John Walcker said the waste gate stuck open the last time the boat was out running, and the boost was stuck at 80. Walcker said there was a lot of horsepower for awhile, and the engine blew. The team did put the last available turbo Allison into the boat, and is asking that fans simply root for them to be able to start and finish heats without destroying any more motors.

U-5 - There's not a sole around the U-5 FormulaBoats.com in its pit area right now. Occasionally, we'll see some fans invited up on deck to sit in the cockpit, or have a picture taken. But all-in-all, it looks like the team is set for the heat racing later today.

U-6 - Calm is also the order in the Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison pits, as the team and its supporters have a chance to take in the air show.

U-7 - The second FormulaBoats.com entry is one of the active hotspots in the pits, where the crew continues to try and find more speed for Jimmy Shane. Both Mike Allen -- two broken ribs and all -- and Jim Harvey are helping out.

U-10 - The cowling is on the U-10 Hoss Mortgage Investors hull, and things seem to be pretty quiet in their pits. Looks like there may be a little bit of adjustment type work going on in the cockpit.

U-13 - There is a little bit of activity in the U-13 Graham Trucking presents Spirit of Detroit pit, as the team is working on fine-tuning. They're down to one engine and one prop for the rest of the weekend. Other teams have offered props, if the U-13 needs one. The team, of course, is hoping they won't need one.

U-17 - Over at the Our Gang Racing Team pit area, the team appears to be making adjustments to the motor, likely trying to find a little more speed for Kip Brown as the boat moves into competitive heats this afternoon.

U-25 - The Miss Procraft Windows team his working hard to get Dr. Ken Muscatel a better ride. Dr. Ken is quoted on the ABRA website as saying, "The boat is running too light. It gets aired out when I'm only one-fourth of the way down the chute. I'm losing at least ten miles per hour because I can't keep my foot in it. The ride is good, but it's just too light. We've tried changing the wing, we've added weight to the front, and I'm using the canard as much as I can, but nothing seems to help."

As a result, the team is currently making changes to the adjustable surfaces of the boat. They've already made a rather significant changes to the canard to give Muscatel more downforce with the canard. The team has also added weight to the right front of the boat by installing sandbags. Lastly, the team is changing the "bras" on the bow blocks of the boat to try and pack less air under the hull.

U-37 - Judging by the lack of serious activity in the Miss Beacon Plumbing pits and the successful qualifying speeds earlier today, this team seems ready for this afternoon's heat racing.

U-48 - The Albert Lee presents Lakeridge Paving was unable to make it back to the pits under its own power when out for its last test session of the morning. The problem? The boat ran out of fuel. "We're doing our part to conserve fuel," said crew member Patrick Gleason. In all seriousness, Gleason said, the team decided it didn't need to run a full 60 gallons aboard the boat, with the design of controlling the weight of the boat.

"We're really pleased though," Gleason added, "we're within just a little bit of the other boat (the U-50 Miss Albert Lee), and we feel good about that."

U-50 - Quiet in the pits as the team just makes sure they're ready for the first heats of the day.

U-100 - There was virtually no one in the U-100 pits when we made our pass through, looking for stories to report, so all must be good with them...and they must be ready to race.

U-787 - Not sure if we're through seeing the U-787 Boeing presents Salute to Seafair on the water for today or not, but it did qualify for the race at over 147 mph, making the Boeing executives on site very happy.

Well, the Saturday morning session is over, so it's time for us to make a pass through the pits to see what we can find out from various teams and see what they think of their testing and how things went.

We will also check in with the U-48 and U-3 teams to see their status after both were brought back to the pits on tow ropes.

On the end of the second lap, the bow of the Lakeridge Paving boat got very high in the air, but David was able to bring it back down.

David's ride ended early, as the boat died coming out of the north turn as it was approaching the finish of the third lap. The cockpit is open and David appears to be OK, but he'll be coming back to the pits at the end of a tow rope.

David Williams is the executive director of the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum, and is an accomplished author of several hydroplane books, including his latest, "Hydroplane Racing in the Tri-Cities," which was released earlier this summer.

One of the best quotes of the weekend, so far, has come from Dr. Ken Muscatel of the U-25 Miss Procraft Windows, "Life is made up of big victories and small victories. It's the small victories that matter."

Theoret won the first race of the season, at Evansville, Ind., and had a commanding lead in the Columbia Cup final last week in Tri-Cities, before a broken prop and damage to the right rear of the boat caused him to not finish after three and a half laps.

Greg Hopp has Fred Leland's red, white and blue U-100 MirageBoats.com back on the water for the first time today.

Lap 1 - 136.822Lap 2 - 139.524Lap 3 - did not complete the lap and returned to the pits

Leland Unlimited is again running the U-100 with the snorkel over the cockpit.

This boat was brand new in 1998, and was driven to a Chevrolet Cup at Seafair championship by N. Mark Evans.

The U-48 is being lowered back into the water.

Fred Leland, according to PA Announcer Mark Allen, still has a total of three boats in his "Leland Navy", after having sold two of his boats to the Go Fast, Turn Left Racing Team (those boats are now the U-48 and the U-50).

J. Michael Kelly has the boat on the course, and looking like he's feeling everything out at a slow speed, but on plane right now, going down the backstretch. He kicked up his speed in the north turn. Looks like he's simulating a start from lane 4, and he's really on it now as he start the first timed lap.

The U-13 is still running with the salt-water snorkel on the front of the cowl.

The Detroit Unlimited Racing Team also owns the former Trendwest boat, last ran as the U-2.25 under the Superior Racing Team banner. They're currently working on the boat back at the shop over this season and next to make as many of the parts as interchangable as possible and have a backup boat and a primary boat.

The U-50 Miss Albert Lee presents Spirit of the Navy is now on the race course.

Lap 1 - 141.975Lap 2 - returned to the pits

Brian Perkins drove the U-21 last season on the western swing, and was named the driver of the U-50 early this year when Greg O'Farrell purchased the U-50.

Perkins is driving a nice tight line around the course.

In 1996, the two boats that are currently in the Go Fast Left Turn Racing Team were partner boats (U-99 and U-100) for Fred Leland, and the U-100 won the national championship as the Pico American Dream.

Chip Hanauer is now out in the U-787 Boeing presents Spirit of Seafair, making another qualification run. The boat will only do exhibition runs and qualifying runs for Seafair this weekend. They're doing testing for Boeing and for Ellstrom.

Lap 1 - 141.251Lap 2 - 146.160Lap 3 - 147.631

The Boeing boat is running on biofuel, a mixture that includes 80 percent biofuels.

This boat is the former Elam Plus hydroplane, and the times that Chip Hanauer is recording today are comparable to the speeds the boat used to post in its heyday for the Ellstrom team.

Dr. Ken Muscatel is out with the U-25 Miss Procraft Windows this morning. It's good to see him out in the boat, getting some testing time this weekend. It's the first extensive testing the team has had this season.

Dr. Ken Muscatel is known as the "world's fastest forensic psychologist", due to his career away from boat racing. He's a forensic psychologist who has advised legal counsel testified as an forensic expert in more than 500 murder cases.

Ken Muscatel has raced in 16 Seafair races. He has raced here every year since 1991. Steve David has 18 appearances in the Seafair race.

Muscatel is a critical player in the rebirth of the San Diego race, having taken over the management of the event. He has attracted supporters such as Boeing for the title sponsorship of the race.

Jimmy King's U-3 is coming back on a tow rope from the start-finish area.

The U-787 Boeing presents Spirit of Seafair is out next with Chip Hanauer at the wheel.

After recording a 152-plus lap, Jean Theoret worked slowly around the course, setting his timing marks for the start on this two-mile course.

The U-50 Albert Lee Appliances presents Spirit of the Navy is now being lowered into the water.

Interesting contrast in styles today. The U-13 is still trying the snorkel to see if it helps stabilize the ride on this rough water, but over in the U-5 camp, they've taken the snorkel off because they had the second-fastest time yesterday, while running without the snorkel (after it fell off early in the test run). The snorkel was recovered, but has a place on the T-6's trailer right now.

Over in the U-13 pits, some due diligence after the course closed last night found no significant damage to either the hull or the motor after the team broke a short shaft and lost a prop yesterday in testing. They trailer fired this morning and everything seemed in order.

The U-3 and U-10 are now in the water, as is the U-37.

The U-1 seems to be sponson-walking quite a bit down the straightaways, no doubt a victim of the parallel rollers that are common on the Ted Jones Memorial Race Course.

The U-5 is on the sling, and will likely go after the two new fast speeds laid down by Dave Villwock during this run.

Welcome everyone, to the Stan Sayres pits along the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle, Washington.

It's Saturday morning, and we're greeted on the pit tower by lots less wind than yesterday, though there's still a slight breeze...but nothing like yesterday's. The skies are cloudy and there's a slight chance of a sprinkle or two this morning, but the skies are expected to clear up by this afternoon. Pretty typical for race weekend in Seattle.

As the unlimited lights make their way to the water for the first testing session of the day (8:30-9:30), we'll share today's schedule for the unlimiteds, and then go see what we can find out in the pits.

In terms of hydroplane racing, today's schedule is pretty heavy with the unlimited lights, as they will be running heats 1A, and 1B as well as 2A and 2B today.

As we take a quick glance around the pits, we can see that the U-10 and U-1 are on their slings already. The Elam is being put into the water -- but the course is not open to the unlimiteds until 9:30 a.m., which is still 40 minutes away as we write this.

The U-3 pit is pretty quiet, they're trailer firing a turbine on the U-5, and it looks like the U-7, U-17, and U-787 are all ready to go.